The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Spoil of Office, by Hamlin Garland
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Title: A Spoil of Office
A Story of the Modern West
Author: Hamlin Garland
Release Date: August 4, 2008 [EBook #26189]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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A SPOIL OF OFFICE
Hamlin Garland's Books.
Uniform edition. Each, 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
Wayside Courtships.
Jason Edwards.
A Spoil of Office.
A Member of the Third House.
A Little Norsk. 16mo. 50 cents.
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, NEW YORK.
A SPOIL OF OFFICE
A STORY OF THE MODERN WEST
BY
HAMLIN GARLAND
AUTHOR OF JASON EDWARDS,
A MEMBER OF THE THIRD HOUSE,
A LITTLE NORSK, ETC.
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
M DCCC XCVII
Copyright, 1897, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Copyright, 1892, by Hamlin Garland
TO
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS,
THE FOREMOST HISTORIAN OF OUR COMMON LIVES
AND THE MOST VITAL FIGURE IN OUR LITERATURE,
I DEDICATE THIS STUDY
OF THE GREAT MIDDLE WEST,
ITS CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND LANDSCAPE.
PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION.
In this story of "A Spoil of Office" it was my intention to treat life
as it would present itself to a young Western man of humble condition,
who should set himself to the task of winning a political success. I
have therefore maintained with considerable care the point of view of
Bradley Talcott. Such a design loses in variety but gains, it seems to
me, in unity and continuity of movement.
It has one marked disadvantage, however: it is apt to be misunderstood
by the reader who may take the characters, events, and theories, judged
by the central figure, to be the author's estimate. To illustrate: Ida
Wilbur is presented as she appeared to Bradley Talcott, and not as the
reader would see her, and not as the author would have delineated her
had she been taken as the central figure of the book. This explanatory
word seemed needed; being
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